I first became interested in Buddhism around 6 years ago after a psychedelic trip. Over the last 6 years I have read some books on Buddhism and always believed they offer a way of life which is based on a deep understanding of the self and the world.

I Struggled to integrate myself into Buddhism as I was a troubled individual full of pain. Over the last 2 years I have had an extremely traumatic time, I became extremely socially withdrawn. This gave me a lot of time think about my life and the world around me however I still remained dreadfully unhappy and unable to properly experience emotions. I was able to overcome this by living through the traumas again and connecting my life experiences / traumas from my childhood to present day.

I am now for the first time in my life confident, able to focus and understand the world around me.

I have always tried to develop a life philosophy based around Buddhist values, understanding suffering and compassion as opposed to Judao-Christian values. I now feel I am able to develop this further.

I have joined this forum as I would like to understand suffering and compassion.

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---